SCBWI Prairie IL Writer's and Illustrator's Day

 

I had my very first keynote speech earlier this month, and I am still buzzing! SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) has chapters all over the United States and the world. The Prairie Illinois chapter had an amazing lineup this year, and I'm not just tooting my own horn here. They had established authors as well as up-and-coming authors (<-- that's me!) in addition to publishing-industry professionals like my art director for TUMBLE. I was really humbled to be included in the lineup. 

Michael Leali was the first keynote speaker, and I am glad I didn't know that going in because my anxiety may have taken over. Leali is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel THE CIVIL WAR OF AMOS ABERNATHY, and his keynote speech was so very moving and inspiring. I was able to be a fly on the wall for a few of the sessions and learn new things.

At the faculty dinner, I finally met the lovely and personable Sarah Aronson who cross-marketed her book BRAND NEW BUBBE with my book ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN last year. I got to meet illustrator Denise Holmes, too! We've been internet friends since I started making my way back into the art and design world in 2016 or so! Natasha Tarpley shared a bench and some fresh air with me. Denise and Natasha, thanks for being great lunchtime buddies! 

I was even able to reconnect with my friend Beth Schneider who lives in the area. Beth and I exhibited  our surface pattern and illustration work at Blueprint and Surtex pre-pandemic. Feels like a lifetime ago.

The entire SCBWI IL team, faculty members, and membership were so incredibly welcoming. I couldn't have asked for a better first-time-faculty experience. November is shaping up to be quite a month!

(Please note: authors and illustrator names have been linked to their books via Amazon affiliate links)

How to Help Your Author and Illustrator Friends (for FREE!)

Confession time: I sometimes feel lost in the publishing industry. Even though I've been an artist and designer for decades, it wasn't until 2017 that I got serious about kidlit and 2022 that my first book as author-illustrator came out. Currently, I'm trying to make new work to sell another book while simultaneously marketing existing books, and it's a challenge!

Publishers shoulder some of the outreach responsibilities, but most titles on their lists do not get the kind of marketing that their "lead" titles do. Lead titles are the ones that get the big posters, cardboard cutouts, commercials, billboards, etc. And, as many authors will tell you, most books don't get the red carpet treatment and most books' marketing and outreach falls on the shoulders of the author.

But all is not lost. What can you do to help? I'm so glad you asked! There are things people like you, dear reader, can do to help a book succeed.

Here a few FREE ways that you can help get the word out about a book without spending a single penny. Here are just a few:

1. Request any of my books from your local library.
2. Recommend my books and/or me to your local school for an author-illustrator visit. I love inspiring kids to write and draw.
3. Submit any of my books to your state book award! This state book awards list from Vanderbilt University is really well organized by region and is updated regularly.
4. Add my books to your Goodreads "want to read" list and vote for my books if they make it on any of those lovely local lists.
5. Suggest my books to your local bookstore share my information as a possible visitor or storytime author.
6. Leave a positive review on any of the big sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Here's the information you'll likely need to do any of those tasks (title, ISBN, ordering info)...

• ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623542658
• ABUELITA Y YO HACEMOS UN FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623543990
• TUMBLE, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781338828665
• COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Hardcover ISBN 9780316467919, Board book ISBN 9780316467810
  

But all is not lost. What can you do to help? I'm so glad you asked! There are things people like you, dear reader, can do to help a book succeed.

Here a few FREE ways that you can help get the word out about a book without spending a single penny. Here are just a few:

1. Request any of my books from your local library.
2. Recommend my books and/or me to your local school for an author-illustrator visit. I love inspiring kids to write and draw.
3. Submit any of my books to your state book award! This state book awards list from Vanderbilt University is really well organized by region and is updated regularly.
4. Add my books to your Goodreads "want to read" list and vote for my books if they make it on any of those lovely local lists.
5. Suggest my books to your local bookstore share my information as a possible visitor or storytime author.
6. Leave a positive review on any of the big sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Here's the information you'll likely need to do any of those tasks (title, ISBN, ordering info)...

• ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623542658
• ABUELITA Y YO HACEMOS UN FLAN, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781623543990
• TUMBLE, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, ISBN 9781338828665
• COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA, Adriana Hernández Bergstrom, Hardcover ISBN 9780316467919, Board book ISBN 9780316467810

Counting down to NOCHEBUENA

Countdown for Nochebuena, my next kid's book, comes out in just a few days! 

Do you want to know where the concept came from?

This is one of those stories that I’ve had percolating in my mind since I turned my attention to children’s books back in 2017. Very similar to ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN, this story began with a list. The biggest difference was that FLAN turned into a story with a character arc and became more entrenched in culture as it went through the editing and revision process. 

Instead, NOCHEBUENA turned into a concept book with no fixed main character, and an overall family vignette.

COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA started with dreaming of our childhood Christmas Eve parties at the houses of various cousins and parientes. To us, Christmas Eve has way more festivities than Christmas. I started listing the essence of those lively gatherings and diving deep into albums and photos at my mom's house. There were so many moments and good times to choose from. I'm telling you, these parties were epic! Eventually I settled on a countdown format because it fit so well with us waiting for midnight to open presents. 

Now I'm counting down until it's published!

COUNTDOWN FOR NOCHEBUENA comes out October 3, 2023 and is published in two formats: Hardcover and Board book by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Age Range: 4 - 8 Years
ISBN: 9780316467919

 

Pairs well with...

LA NOCHE BEFORE THREE KINGS DAY by Sheila Colón-Bagley

SUGAR PLUM BAKERS by Pat Tanumihardja

FELIZ NEW YEAR AVA GABRIELA by Alexandra Alessandri

 

TUMBLE! An origin story

There's just one more month until TUMBLE 'tumbles' onto bookshelves everywhere, and I am so proud of this little book! It received a Starred Kirkus Review and was positively received by many beta readers.

So where did the idea come from?

TUMBLE's origins are kind of sad, but it's a story of survival and so I'll share it with you. Rewind to Fall of 2020. COVID lockdowns. My family had traveled to be closer to my mom and stepdad who was in the final stages of cancer. As they were in home hospice at my stepsister's, we were doing the best we could e-learning at my mother's condo. Zoom school with first graders who had already missed half of the social skills from kindergarten was not easy. 

After e-learning one day, kiddo turned to me at the table wanting to write a story about "tumble." Tumble? I asked if he wanted me to write the words for him as I'd done previously, and with an emphatic "NO!" said he wanted to challenge me to a duel... a story duel! I don't know where he got the word from, but we got to work. He on his version. Me on mine... I started with some thumbnails that came quickly, and the words followed.

A bit later I brought it to my online critique group and they thought it was great. They were so encouraging! They helped me polish the text into the rhyming couplets you see in the final.

You can find the book here on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61780003-tumble

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Tumble

by Adriana Hernández Bergstrom

Giveaway ends June 08, 2023.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Also, there's currently a giveaway for TUMBLE! Entries opened today and anyone in the U.S. can enter until it closes June 8. 

TUMBLE goes on sale June 6 wherever books are sold.

I hope you win!

FLAN CLUB: GUAVA FLAN

It's a FLAN CLUB Recipe Post!

Today, I'm sharing with you my most tropical flan recipe: GUAVA FLAN.

It’s a very Caribbean-flavored flan featuring guava paste which is tangy and sweet. When combined with the custardy flan, the resulting texture is a little bit like a ripe pear custard. It’s a really yummy, and complex flavor. Let me know if you try making it! Take pictures and send them to me!

Flan Ingredients:

• 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
• ½ can (7 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 7 oz. of a guava paste brick (roughly half)
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

Caramel Ingredients (wet method):
1 cup of white granulated sugar
½ cup of water

Garnish:
Leaf shaped slices of guava paste

Tools

• 1 circular baking form
• 1 Bain Marie (baño de Maria)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the caramel first to coat the baking form. Heat the sugar and water over high heat until boiling. Stir once and reduce to a simmer at medium-low heat until amber. Pour caramel to cover bottom of the baking form. Set aside.

Blend the evaporated milk, condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add the guava paste in little pieces. Blend until smooth. Pour the flan batter into the baking form and cover it tightly with foil. Place  the foiled-covered form in the baño de Maria with water at about 1/3 to 1/4 way up the form. Place baño with flan form in the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hr, 15 min (depends on your baking form shape/size) or until toothpick comes out clean. If you tap the side of the baking form peeking under the foil, the batter should not be watery, just slightly jiggly. Let rest for 20 min. Chill in the fridge for 3+ hours or overnight.

Ready to serve? Flip that flan onto a bigger plate.

Spoon caramel on top.

Decorate. Enjoy! Send me photos!

 Want the recipe card? Check it out from my site HERE

Abuelita y yo hacemos un flan comes out on June 13, 2023! Have you preordered? Pre-order anywhere books are sold!

Part 2, Sketch to Final: Abuelita and I Make Flan

 

Back in 2017, when I started writing ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN my story looked like a list of ingredients (literally) and a recipe. I took this to my first writing critique group (!!Qué pena!! but you have to start somewhere). I had a hazy vision in my head for a story about a grandchild and grandparent making flan together.

The story changed shape many times between 2017 and it's publication in 2022.

 

In between, I realized the story was missing 'the heart'. So I combined a memory of baking with my own Abuelita with that feeling where you think everything's going wrong, but you're still safe and loved and accepted as an imperfect child deserving of love. This was a big step in learning to write for kids. There needs to be some kind of heart or hook or something for kids to relate to.

 

Next, I did a sketch dummy from Debbie Ohi's site:  https://debbieohi.com/resources/. I played with different thumbnail illustrations until the story made sense to me (and my agent!). Then I enlarged it to a full size dummy, refined the illos, and began the back and forth of editing and revising.

 

I needed to add more tension! Here are some of the people who saw it and offered editing thoughts: critique partners, mentors, teachers from various courses and organizations, professional/industry critiquers, peers, and my mother*. And this jogged a memory of me breaking my mom's wedding plate while we were moving back in with my grandparents.

*For my second and third books, I did not have to take it so far and wide for editing. It took a lot for me to grow confident in my writing abilities! Also, sometimes your family doesn't know what makes a good children's book!

And that was the key! Once I added that broken plate, it all came together and we sold the manuscript to Charlesbridge in 2020, and it finally came out in August of 2022.

These days, my process for writing is more like a yes/no flowchart: outline or list, then a test draft in prose (does it work? yes/no), if no, a draft in lyrical language. When I think something's working, I'll exchange with a critique group (love/hate/boring?)... rinse repeat until it's feeling ready-ish enough to submit to my agent.

 

From Sketch to Final Art: ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN

The story of ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN is a combination of several real-life events. I was inspired to capture a moment in time where it felt like everything was going wrong as a kid, but still able to find safety and love from my grandparents who accepted me as an imperfect child deserving of love. Anita, the main character, is a blend of real life people in my own family including myself. The Abuelita character was drawn from a combination of several real-life people including my great aunt, both my grandmas and their friends. 

What’s real-life inspiration and what’s not? I really did break a wedding dish, but it belonged to my mother, not my abuelita. The truth is my family did not bring much more than their suitcases with them from Cuba. I really did - and still do! - make a LOT of flan, but I helped my great-aunt, Marta, who had severe arthritis doing all the things Anita does in the book. In real life, I did more crafts like sewing, crochet, and cake decorating with my grandma. I chose flan because it’s delicious and it reminds me of our big family get-togethers which I miss very much.

I started work on ABUELITA AND I MAKE FLAN back in 2017. It was in large part thanks to SCBWI which connected me to a critique group which then led to a mentorship program at WNDB, critiques at SCBWI conferences, Highlights Foundation courses, Storyteller Academy and other educational resources and eventually my agent! Community has been pivotal for growth and feedback in the publishing world, and the success of this title making it to bookshelves everywhere.

Tumbling into A New Year - 2022 Wrap Up

 

Happy New Year!

The last few weeks of any year for me are typically about reflecting, month by month on the year that just finished. I snatch any quiet moment I can during the holiday rush to write down my thoughts on what went well and what didn’t professionally and personally.

 

Then the first few weeks of the year are a mirror of those last two weeks, and I take time to think about what I want my year to look like. I ask myself questions like: How can I participate in successful, fulfilling activities that re-energize or inspire me? What are some activities that drain me?

What elements of my life need to be edited out? I make a deliberate effort to imagine where I want to be at the end of the year, to imagine what success feels like, and then I write it down. This is how I set my intentions for the year. 

 

So it’s gone for six years now. 2022 brought to fruition a lot of seeds planted years ago doing these kinds of reflection and intention exercises. The path of my life has finally brought me here, to reflect upon the publishing of my first book as an author and illustrator.

This is no accident! It’s the course I set for myself, and worked toward year after year. It’s the learning and revising, and reflection all adding up. You too can set the course of your creative year, and I encourage you to take the time to reflect and set intentions for 2023.

 

Wishing you a super 2023!

-Adriana

Some favorite success-building creative activities:

• Reflection journaling or sketching like The Year Compass (https://yearcompass.com/en/ - it's a free journaling tool).

• Setting intentions and creating a plan for success

• Choosing a word of the year for motivation or focus

• Idea generation community activities like Tara Lazar’s Storystorm (https://taralazar.com/)

• Editing workshops or critique group meet-ups
• Accountability communities like 12x12 or Storyteller Academy or your local SCBWI conferences